Description
Woodblock printed illustration depicting, as we read in the captions, the dashing Hakomawashi Saijiro (箱廻才次郎) in the company of the geisha Komakichi (藝者駒吉) of the Arai House in Aoyagibashi (青柳橋荒井屋). In the central inset a townsman from Sokokucho (楚國町の町人), the rich Kou (香宇大盡). On the left, the lascivious widow Ozuru (女孀淫掃お図留) of the riverbank at Miyato (宮渡河岸) is eavesdropping behind a door.
The work, made in a period between 1856 and 1863 by the artist Koikawa Shozan (恋川笑山), is taken from vol. 1 (一編) of the erotic shunpon (春本) “A Popular Parody of the War of Han and Chu” (通俗堪麁軍談).
The print on Japanese washi paper (和紙), despite the right signs of aging and the presence of a small hole, is in good condition.
